"An average family migrates to Madrid in search of work; what they find instead is bad housing, treacherous people and black marketeering. Often hailed as Spain's first neo-realist film, Furrows is a curious combination of city symphony, social drama and gangster thriller; its director, Nieves Conde, was a member of the Spanish Falange, and hoped to use the film as an argument against uncontrolled emigration to the cities. Regardless, no Spanish film since Buñuel's Land Without Bread (1932) had painted as desolate a picture of Spanish life, nor pointed a finger more directly at the government for failing to take action in a rapidly worsening situation. Furrows also begins a dialogue-later taken up by films such as Ferreri's The Little Apartment (see June 29th) and Berlanga's The Executioner (see July) about the insufficiency of a 'modernization from above' that refuses to alter traditional lifestyles and social relationships. The performances of the large cast are uniformly excellent." -Richard Peña